LMP Interview in Healthy Living Magazine

She seems detached—and she probably is, not just 10 feet but a million miles away from the games going on around her, not to mention the tragedy.

She is also divergent. Born both a Southern girl and celebrity, her (perhaps healthy?) detachment from the world reflects, it would seem, having learned a lifetime’s worth of lessons from her father’s tragic life. She’s probably feeling burned too. She left the Church of Scientology or so we hear—and Lisa revealed the bitterness, even if nascent, in the song from Storm and Grace “So Long.”

Maybe it’s just being Lisa Marie, daughter of the rock and roll king, once wife to the king of pop, with the height of superstardom and the depth of crushing deaths. She probably died and came back numb? Or, as she says, she likes to keep things “compartmentalized.” Here’s the fame part, here’s the mom part. By fate and fortune to become the only child of a mega icon, being a rock star in her veins and in her own right, Lisa Marie has had an escapade of a life.

Healthy Living: You have been singled out by being born into one of the most famous families on earth. How do you bear it?

Lisa Marie Presley: I had a very level-headed, true upbringing by my mother. I think that kept me sort of normal, as normal as possible, and away from the sort of celebrity aspect of it. I go in and out of it in intervals. I don’t stay in it. I don’t eat, breathe, and sleep it. I don’t desire to be in the weeklies and just being out there all the time. I like to do it at different times. For instance, if I have a record, if something’s happening, then that’s totally fine. I keep things very separate. How one would bear it? It’s just kind of keeping things compartmentalized. Things like taking care of the children and doing what I need to do and being a mother and all the other mom stuff. Aside from the celebrity stuff, I keep it all very separate.

Healthy Living: Do you like the fact you were born into a famous family? Do you think you have been blessed or cursed by it?

Lisa Marie Presley: With anything that’s good there is bad with everything in life. I would never complain. I would never wish to be anyone else. I would never ever want to not be where I am. But it’s definitely a tricky one to navigate as well; I will say that (laughs).

Healthy Living Would you say up until now that your life has been more tragic or happy?

Lisa Marie Presley: I would never say it’s more tragic, no. There has been a fair amount of it without question. I feel like it would fill many lives in one but, of course, there is going to be a good amount of both. I wouldn’t say it’s more than the things that make me happy. I wouldn’t say that it was out of balance. There is so much and so many different chapters in it. For me there is going to be a bit of everything; good amounts of good and bad in that, inevitably.

Healthy Living: What is your take from the bad that you went through?

Lisa Marie Presley: We are always learning something and there’s always a reason for it. Hopefully you have learned something, something that you can change and grow stronger from it and get better from it. Learn something and not do it again. Get whatever out of it so that you make your next move and can do better.

Healthy Living: Everyone has painfully regretted deeds in life. What are yours?

Lisa Marie Presley: I don’t know who would say they lived a life who didn’t regret some stuff. What was it you are asking about it?

Healthy Living: You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want. I am asking If there is anything that you regret that you have done and can share. Because, yes, everyone obviously has some very painful regrets and we were wondering what yours are?

Lisa Marie Presley: There are quite a few, but I don’t know if I want to get into them because I am at a place right now that I am looking at everything, and all I can say about it is I don’t know who would live a life and would not have painful things that you would regret that happened from your actions. I am so hard on myself, I really beat myself up if I do something that I shouldn’t. The answer is that I do have many, but my only hope is that, like I said earlier, I learn something from it and it happened for a reason. One of the things I don’t know if I told you right now… I feel like there is always a reason. It will always make sense one day when you look back. And I don’t know who made the plan. I don’t know how or why it is happening, but it will somehow make sense somewhere along the line in the scheme of things. Maybe it will take a long time, but it will, I hope (laughs). For the most part a lot of it has for me. I always try to figure stuff out. I am always thinking about how I can make myself better and how can I not do bad things or whatever. I definitely do not do them again when I did it once. My thing is when I am doing something to myself it’s one thing. When it involves other people that really upsets me; I don’t like hurting other people. I am really hard on myself. When I make an error people have to really get me to stop beating myself to the ground with it…

Healthy Living: What advice would you give to women who are going through divorce?

Lisa Marie Presley: That’s really personal. It would depend on what the situation is. There is always a situation, you know, why and what’s happening. There is always a story with every single divorce. It depends on the story. What the scenario is. Is there another woman? Is there someone else? There are a lot different things that could be going on.

Healthy Living: What would you like our readers to know about you as a musician?

Lisa Marie Presley: As a musician, the most important part for me is that it’s something I have been interested in my whole life. I think that regardless of what I was born into, my interests have always been into music at a very young age. I think I would have done this regardless. It’s my passion; it’s what I live for. I think music has been very important to me my whole life. I take it very seriously. I am passionate about that aspect of life. I enjoy doing those things: performing, writing songs, hearing what people have told me the song has done for them, how it has changed their lives or how it has moved them. Those are the things that sort of motivate me to continue and make me happy.

Healthy Living: Do you think the enormous legacy you represent affects the perception of your music? There are a lot of critics who have found it to be very worthy.

Lisa Marie Presley: Yes, without a doubt it’s much more difficult. Well, it can be easy. I suppose that because of the name and because of the connections one can have more than somebody that wasn’t in that situation. I get exposed to more and have more opportunities; however, there is a lot more expected out of me, which is the other aspect of that. I am constantly compared. Like I said, this is such a big part of my life that I just look at myself as a singer/songwriter and not as that. But no one is going to look at me like that. I try to leverage what I am but there sometimes is a lot more expected from me. Sometimes I’m treated like I am my father (laughs) but I am not him. That is expected. There is always that comparison, nonstop, that does put a lot more on me. Even though I may have some extra opportunities, it is an extreme… intense comparison and sometimes it’s not fair. But at the same time I kind of have to navigate through it. Knowing who my fans are because I definitely do have my own fan base. They are people who are into my music. I do know that I have that and it kind of keeps me sane and focused and still able to do it.

Healthy Living: Can you tell me a little bit about the Elvis Presley charitable foundation and LEAP and any other charities that you are involved in?

Lisa Marie Presley: I have so many. My charities are typically always ones aimed at helping children. As far as charitable foundations specifically, we built a housing project in Memphis because of my father. I actually lived in one of them when he was younger and it was his sort of dream to build a thing like this. It’s called Presley Place. It is a housing project for families that are down. It’s there to help get their lives back together and get a job. They can get training and learning skills and have an apartment with two bedrooms for their children and them. It’s a place where they live and can get their life back and then move out. It’s doing very well and it’s constantly full. The next one we are going after, we are still raising money for it, to put one up in New Orleans. I have been involved in so many different types. On my last tour I was working very closely with World Vision: they are a nonprofit organization that helps children in the developing world. They sponsor children and provide them with money, clothing… anything they need. So every concert we had a table laid out of all the past children and families that donated money to them monthly. We really encourage building relationships with people doing that and we did very well. A lot of children were helped during the world and US tour. We are closely working together with World Vision. I mean, there are so many of them. For me though my interest lies with kids always.

Healthy Living: Can you tell us about your children and family? What it’s like to be in england and how the move has changed things?

Lisa Marie Presley: We are just very normal. I have two older children: one, I can’t believe it, she’s 25 and a 21-year old, my son, and then the two little ones. We all stay together. We are all very close. Wherever I am they have their rooms and live with me. We all try to stay close as much as possible. Like in the same room, preferably for me. I don’t like it when they are far away in any way. I am very protective. I just smother them in love and I am also ferociously protective.They are my priority. That’s what I do. That’s what I care most about. I keep them close to me and make sure they are happy and healthy. When they get older sometimes I don’t think it ever ends. When they get past 18 I think their problems just get bigger to be honest (laughs); that’s always a struggle. We all are very, very close. The older ones absolutely adore the younger ones and they help me with them. We all kind of hold each other up; we are all each other’s best friends. I’m theirs but I am also their mother. That’s kind of that. Does that answer your question? But where ever we are always trying to stay together. We are always texting. My daughter is very busy acting, has a crazy schedule. It’s a constant struggle and juggle to get everybody in the same place at the same time and keep us close. None of us are happy if we haven’t seen each other past a week or two. It’s just a normal family.

Healthy Living: How do your two older children get along with your husband?

Lisa Marie Presley: They adore him. They love him. He is incredible and takes care of everybody and everything all the time. He helps them immensely when they need things. They go to him for everything. He loves them dearly. My ex as well, their father, we are all very close. He is still very close with us, all of us. We will all be together for vacations and we’ll travel together and take trips with my ex as well. That is very kooky but it is great. We are all really close, even my ex. He doesn’t want to be far from what’s going on with all of us there or out of the mix in anyway. So, it works. We make it work and it’s not forced either; it just works. They are good friends, so it works. My ex also adores my two little ones.

Healthy Living: How has your take on your health been transformed during your life?

Lisa Marie Presley: I was thinking about that this morning because I knew we were going to talk. I feel like when I was younger I didn’t care, you know when I was a kid. Then I had my first child at 21 years old, Riley. I gained about 50 pounds when I was pregnant with her. I think that was the first time (pause) 50, 5-0, that’s a lot of ice cream (laughs). I feel like after I had Riley and I had to lose that weight it was the first time I had run into that sort of thing. I was like uh-oh. Then I had started putting my attention to those kinds of things, like diet and health. I have tried everything. It tookme a long time but I lost it. When I say everything, I mean I tried everything: Herbal Life, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, urine shots, absolutely no fat, eating just broccoli… I mean literally everything. That’s when it started, in my twenties, and I finally lost it all. I lost it all when I just started to eat the right healthy food and exercising. Then I really got into exercising. When I got pregnant again I charted it. I was in really good shape and I charted it out 26 pounds for him and that’s exactly what I gained to the day that I had him and I lost it in about three weeks. I think from that point, early on I was really into health and working out. I realized you can’t just sit here and eat this stuff you want to eat and expect not to gain weight; you have to do something. So, I have been focused on this for a long time. Whether I paid attention to it and was always good? No. I have had those moments of not paying attention and not being perfect. Of course, I’m like anybody else. I do know that through all of it I have come to know just to eat clean and organic. I always eat clean and organic, in balance, in moderation, and exercise. That’s what it always comes down to no matter what fad. I’ve tried them all just like everyone else and no matter what it always just comes down to common sense and moderation and I really believe in organic eating. I am also a vegetarian.

Healthy Living: Was there a specific kind of diet that worked for you? Or was it motivation and self control that just finally took over?

Lisa Marie Presley: Honestly, I think it’s just moderation and clean eating. I eat really clean; that’s kind of what it’s about. I have had the moments where, for instance, I think I was 38 or 37 and I quit smoking. No, I was 39. I wanted to quit smoking. I have smoked my whole life and when I was 39 I quit. It was the worst thing I think I have ever done at the time. I quit and then my metabolism slowed down and you gain weight right after you quit smoking. I quit smoking and I got pregnant with twins. So it was like bang bang. That wasn’t much fun. And also a bunch of hormones with that. That just kind of swelled me up. But then I had the twins and I had to go on a balanced diet again. That was kind of a double hit, slowing my metabolism and getting pregnant with twins at 40. That took some work and that came off. But, honestly it comes back to moderation and balance. I have had a couple moments where I don’t do that, like anybody. Eating clean and portions works for me too, not going crazy.

Healthy Living: Do you have any advice for women who are trying to quit smoking?

Lisa Marie Presley You literally have to quit everything that makes you want to smoke. You can’t drink, you can’t drink coffee and you can’t drink alcohol, all these things. There is an amazing website and a book called WhyQuit.com that helped me immensely. It explained to me exactly the process of how long it would be, what the withdrawals were and what was going to happen. I had to stay in that book and read it religiously. It helped me immensely because it gives you a target of how long things are going to be. Because when you first quit you feel so awful and you think you are always going to feel that way for the rest of your life, you don’t see that there is going to be another side, you don’t see that there is an end. That particular website and book break it down. It says this is exactly how long this is going to take for this to leave out of your system and then it’s going to do this. The psychological part of it is the hardest part; you know getting used to not doing it in certain places. That book and that website saved me. My husband and I did it together and we didn’t drink coffee and alcohol. Coffee and alcohol would expel nicotine out of your system faster so you would smoke more. I didn’t know that. I could understand what was happening, so I understood it wasn’t going to be forever. You get lost when you quit smoking like that. I didn’t realize it is an actual drug, but it is. You know people say it’s a bad habit, it is not just a habit; it is serious business. I have had friends who quit heroin but could not quit smoking. It’s tough. We just kind of went somewhere off the beaten track and stopped everything. I was aware we were going to gain weight because you do, because your metabolism is just slow. Then you start replacing it with food. But you have to focus, focus, focus. It was a lot of determination—that’s what it was.

Healthy Living: How often do you visit Graceland?

Lisa Marie Presley: I try to get there as much as possible, around three or four times a year. As much as I can I still have family there so I love going there.

Healthy Living: What feelings does visiting Graceland evoke in you?

Lisa Marie Presley: A lot of comfort and it just feels like home. I just always feel comfortable and happy there. Not comfortable, that’s not the right word. It’s like a warm feeling, I just feel like I am at home; it feels familiar. It makes me happy.

Lisa Marie Presley: I think that is a bit of a myth that went way out of control. I believe it was taken a little too far for whatever reason. Just like when people do the “Thank you very much” thing too far. But I do know that he probably ate it a few times, but I don’t think that it was quite as much as has been discussed. I will answer this: I won’t eat a fried sandwich (laughs), but I do like peanut butter on a banana. I actually made that for Finley the other day and was like, “Your grandfather ate this.”

Healthy Living: What’s your favorite cuisine?

Lisa Marie Presley: This is hard. Sushi. Japanese. Italian and Mexican. All three. When I am in England I have Indian. I don’t know why it’s so good there but it’s incredible.

Healthy Living: Do you still enjoy any of your father’s favorite dishes with your family?

Lisa Marie Presley: Oh, absolutely. If I am in Memphis my whole family will come over after hours to the house and we will make everything, all the food: fried chicken, collard greens, biscuits, black eyed peas and the whole southern spread comes out. It’s a big, big spread. Okra…you know? (laughs) Definitely we do that. Catfish, hush puppies…

Healthy Living: You have been outspoken on the use of drugs for children with conditions like ADHD. Instead of drugs, what do you advocate for behavioral health issues?

Lisa Marie Presley: I wouldn’t profess to know: that’s not my field. I don’t like children getting medicated when they have no choice. Learning how to change your function in life through taking some medication or whatever, I think they are still too young when they start it. I don’t blame the parents; I think they just don’t know. Again, I am not a medical person. I would never say something specifically about that to anybody. My problem is that it is happening so much all of a sudden. There were all of these crazy drugs, little children were taking so many things…I know myself personally I had a thing with it. I don’t get into politics and I would certainly never give some kind of medical advice. I am not against taking something if it’s needed. I am not some freakazoid that is, like, don’t take anything ever.

Lisa Marie Presley: It’s common sense, always. There are so many fads and so much going on all the time, with such attention on health I think it’s a really good thing. We have come such a long way from when I was younger. We are living longer and we are coming up with things that are making our bodies survive longer. I think that we have progressed so much over the years and that’s an incredible thing. We learned to eat properly and exercise, all those things that we didn’t necessarily do or talk about 30-40 years ago. We were smoking and drinking in the ‘50s. I mean we have come such a long way, the evolution process with things that are developing constantly and changing. Moderation has always been a good thing. Keeping up with fads and stuff like that is so intense. Doing anything to extreme is hard; it’s going to make you crave and go crazy wanting something. I think everything is simple. It should be. Common sense and moderation are a big part of it. Keep it simple. I just keep up on stuff. What’s working, what is not? What’s changing things and what is evolving healthwise. Keep up on health and fitness. Focus on those and live the healthiest you possibly can. Keeping it clean and moderated. I think we are living a lot longer than we had been previously. I think we are learning and are a lot more educated now on health and fitness. Your body is a temple and it’s important to take care of and stay up on to fix when broken.